Page 14 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

There was a moment of silence, and then Helen felt Maggie’s hand on her chin, tipping it so she looked into her eyes.

“Helen, this whole situation does not have anything to do with you.” Helen made to protest, but Margaret raised a hand to stop her. “Let me finish. Father only scolds me because he is frustrated and worried about my unmarried state, and you shouldn’t blame him. You know how society treats unmarried ladies. I do wish I could just marry any gentleman, but I don’t fancy anyone of them, and the one I do fancy is not mine. I do believe I might have to settle for a marriage of convenience. After all, that is what members of the ton do all the time. No?” she said, smiling ruefully.

“Helen, I’m the one who is supposed to step up to honor the contract Father had with the late Duke, but I shirked my duties for a… delusion, leaving you, my younger sister, to bear the consequences of my choices. I am really sorry.”

Helen smiled at her sister, Margaret opened her arms, and Helen embraced her.

“We are really quite a pair, aren’t we?” Helen chuckled. “It is amusing how this society continues to deny women the right to choose their spouses with their ridiculous laws. That is our reality. But we will be fine”

“Yes, we will be,” Margaret agreed softly, her eyes clouding in introspection.

Worried that her sister was retreating into her shell, Helen decided to change the topic.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m going to make sure that the Duke regrets the day he conceived the idea of marrying me.”

“How do you propose to that?” Margaret asked with a curious furrow on her brow.

Helen sat up, making herself comfortable on the bed as she continued, “We all know that our Duke is fastidious and a stickler for propriety.” She looked at Margaret in expectation. She only got a blank stare in return.

“Well, you tell me. I had never noticed the man prior to our meeting earlier today. Of course, I have heard of the Ruthless Duke, but I could never point him out in a room filled with people,” Margaret replied

“Well, he is,” Helen continued, “and I am counting on that one trait to save me from this marriage.”

She gave a triumphant smile.

“How do you intend to do that?”

“It is quite simple. I will simply embarrass the Duke with my atrocious manners so that he will have no choice but to end the marriage.”

Margaret sat up, shocked. “Helen, you’re not serious.”

“Oh, but I am. The Duke wants the perfect Society wife—graceful, hospitable, and at least average-looking. He seeks to marry me because he feels I fit those criteria. My aim, therefore, is to dissuade the Duke from marrying by becoming the polar opposite of his ideal wife,” Helen said in excitement.

But Margaret did not share her excitement. Her brow furrowed in concern “I think such a plan will severely damage your reputation, and remember, he is a duke. He could weather any scandal that comes his way—he has been doing it for several Seasons, weathering scandals that would have crippled lesser men. I am afraid the same cannot be said for us.”

Trust Margaret to be sensible at all times. She had always been the more levelheaded of the pair of them. While Helen was more prone to making impulsive decisions, Margaret was the type to analyze a situation thoroughly before making decisions.

“Don’t worry, I will be careful,” Helen said with a reassuring tone

“Remember, if everything goes south, I could always step up and marry the Duke. He can’t be all that bad.”

“I am sure he is all that is said about him and more,” Helen replied.

* * *

Helen woke up that morning with a strange excitement within her to execute her mischievous plans. She had barely been able to sleep the night before as she plotted.

She was going to make sure that he regretted the day he stepped his Hessian-covered feet in her home to enforce that ancient betrothal contract. She had come up with new ways to torture the lofty and mighty Duke of Blackhill.

He was called the Ruthless Duke, and she was counting on that “ruthlessness” to get herself out of this situation. Her simple plan was to embarrass him so much that he would be forced to cut ties with her family for good, but she had to be careful so as not to ruin her family’s reputation.

From her observation of the Duke over the years, she was able to come to one conclusion—the Duke cared about appearancesa lot. That was why he attended the affairs of the ton even though he always looked like he was dying of boredom. He was a man who wanted to marry her because he thought she was the belle of the ton—hence the perfect hostess and partner to rule his dukedom. So her plan was to systematically dismantle that impression of her until he had no choice but to look for another gracious lady to accept the role of his Duchess.

Besides, he shouldn’t even care if she happened not to be his bride, since he had made it clear he was marrying just for political reasons. Any well-bred gentlewoman could play that role as well as her.

Helen snuck out of the house before the Duke’s carriage arrived to pick her up. She went on to visit her friends, who hadn’t heard anything new about the Duke’s bride.

“Am I terrible for wishing she was ugly?” Joana sighed.

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